On Wednesday, which was our last full day in Florence, we decided to finally go into the Duomo. We lucked out in waiting!
I was so excited for the beautiful day that I took a little video from our apartment of the bells ringing .
There was no entry fee to get into the church, but there was a bit of a line. The line moved along pretty fast, so it wasn't too bad. Just like the Vatican Basilica, Santa Maria del Fiore has a strict dress code. I was prepared - I had my scarf in my bag and just wrapped it around my waist as my shorts were inappropriate. You can't really tell from the pictures, but the Basilica is covered in pastels. Based on its exterior, it is probably the most beautiful church I have seen. I loved the pastels and how it looked old and a bit worn.
The inside of the church has a beautiful floor with all sorts of designs in the tiles. The dome is intricately painted, and has a walkway around the interior edge for those that wish to climb up to the top. We noticed a few cracks on the interior of dome, and we wondered how long they had been there.
We decided to go down those stairs to see what it was. Below the Basilica is the crypt of a church (which was dedicated to Saint Reparata) that occupied the grounds before the current church. There was an entrance fee for the crypt, but there was no line, so that was nice. Prior to our visit, we had already planned to buy the Grand Ticket of 10 euros to get into all parts of the Duomo (which included Brunelleschi's Dome, Giotto's Bell Tower, Baptistery, Museum, and the Crypt). The crypt had an extremely low ceiling, and as we walked around, we could see the remains of the old church. (sorry for the blurry pictures)
After we left the crypt, we agreed that we would both rather climb Giotto's Bell Tower rather than climb Brunelleschi's Dome. We figured that it would be less crowded and we would get a terrific view of the dome where as, if you climb the dome, you don't get to see it. I am not sure what climbing the dome is like, but climbing the tower is pretty easy! Not only is it 50 less steps than the dome (414 for the tower, 463 for the dome), but there are four levels along the way up that are covered where you can stop, take in the view, take some pictures, eat some gummy bears, and most importantly, sit down! I am not sure if the dome has all of that, but not once have I ever climbed a tower that had all of that going on! Let us begin...
And then reached level one...
Then level two...
Then level three...
Then level four... the top!
Two negatives to the top of the tower: it is not as tall as the dome (duh) and there is a fence around it which can be difficult for picture taking. But the views are amazing and it was so nice to be able to take our time and not feel crammed. And I felt confident that no one would run off with my camera when I asked if they would take our picture.
When we got back, Luke took one last picture of the tower before realizing our SD card was full. Yikes!
We ended up buying another later on that day, but we still planned to go into the Baptistery next so we had to rely on our camera phones. The Baptistery was built between 1059 and 1128, and quite a few notable Renaissance figures were baptized in the building. The Baptistery is most known for its doors - there are four sets of bronze doors around the building with biblical stories sculpted into the panels. The interior of the building has a bright gold mosaic ceiling.
After leaving the Baptistery, Luke and I decided not to go into any of the other parts using our ticket. I have read online that the museum is excellent, so we really should have checked that out. Our tickets were also good for one more day, but we were leaving Florence, so we couldn't use them. I felt that 10 euro was more than worth it for the entry into what we did, so I didn't feel in any way ripped off. I had so much fun climbing the dome at the Vatican, so it would have been fun to climb the dome here. We had great views from the tower, so no big deal that we didn't go to the top of the dome.
RANDOM FACT:
Duomo is a term for cathedral church and has nothing to do with the word "dome" - not all duomos have domes on them. Cupola is the word for dome.
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When Luke and I first decided we would be going to Italy and Florence, we had grand plans of wanting to do a wine tour and a cooking class. It seemed like the "relaxing" thing to do. After really thinking about it, we decided against the cooking class and went with only the wine tour. I felt that only having a day and a half to enjoy Florence was too little and it stressed me out thinking we might not get to relax. After it has all been said and done, we really could have done the cooking class. It's okay though... it just means we will need to go back to Florence someday :-) Ya hear that Luke???? We need to go back to Florence!! Just kidding!!!! sorta.
On Tuesday morning, we woke up by an alarm. How terrible is it to wake up to an alarm in the middle of a vacation? It's practically the most awful thing on the planet... at the time when the alarm sounds. #FirstWorldProblems. We needed to be out the door by 8:30am in order to get to our meeting spot at 9am. There were only 8 people in our group, all American, most from Cailfornia so they were obsessed with Napa. It was pretty funny - at one point, our tour guide (Bernardo) practically flat out said "Napa is one of my least favorite areas. Sonoma and Oregon are my favorites in the United States." Anyway, he is Florentine (born and raised), but has lived briefly in other places. He currently goes back and forth between Florence and Paris doing wine stuff in both cities. What a life!!!!
Moving on, we started off going to the Chianti Region of Tuscany which was about a 40 minute drive. Bernardo gave each of us a wine and food map for the Tuscany region, so he started off explaining the areas and how wines from certain regions have certain names and code names associated with them. It is all very confusing, but now I know that a Chianti wine is NOT the same as a Chianti Classico wine, but both of them only come from Italy. And if you see a black rooster on a wine bottle you know for a fact that it is a Chianti Classico wine (see a picture toward the bottom if the page).
Our first stop was at Corzano e Paterno in the Chianti region. Bernardo showed us how the grapes should look on the vine and told us how "lazy" the Sangiovese grapes are and why. He also took us around the factory showing us the machinery used to make the wine, explained the process of "crushing" the grapes, what kind of barrels are used, and more. I felt like I was cramming for a test, and if I had been, there is no doubt I would have failed!
Eventually, we came to the tasting which we had all been looking forward to. It was 10:30am, but we were on all wine time! We tasted one white, two Chianti's and a red (my favorite was the Reserva). We also had a selection of cheeses and breads and two so super delicious olive oils. Bernardo said there is no need to call the oil Extra Virgin because all olive oil from Italy is Extra Virgin. After tasting the olive oil, I was more interested in bringing home boxes of olive oil than wine. It was a relaxing time with a terrific view, and we even had a few kitty cats wanting to taste - I don't blame them, it was all so good!
Next, we headed into the Chianti Classico region for lunch
at "The Crazy Butcher's" place called Antica Macelleria Cecchini located in Panzano. Apparently, "The Crazy Butcher", whose name is Dario Cecchini, is the most famous butcher in the world and is flown all over the place to teach classes and what not. We got lucky because he was leaving a few days later for San Francisco to teach a class. Anyway, everyone who entered the shop received a glass of wine, no matter if you were part of the tour or not and a table was full of snacks to enjoy - more olive oil with his delicious salt (called Profumo del Chianti). So welcoming! During lunch, we enjoyed 6 family style plates of meat (the meatballs were the best!), and for sides, we had fresh veggies to dip in olive oil, bread, and white beans. Obviously, we were served more wine with our meal and also got coffee cake bread wine and coffee to finish. I didn't take any pictures of the food because Luke and I were already getting funny looks for how much food we were putting on our plates. Whoops!
After lunch, we went on to the next vineyard which was the most relaxing place I have probably ever visited in my life - Renzo Marinai. The owner of the winery showed us around his place, and he was the nicest man ever. His business (and home) sits on a hill that over looks the countryside. It was so quiet, so beautiful, so relaxing, and really just the perfect place on Earth. We all stood looking out at the scenery, just in awe of it all. He told us two pieces of information that sent us all over the roof: 1.) His place is a bed and breakfast with about seven rooms (who is up for a vacation!???), and 2.) He has no one to take over his business when he dies (who wants to take over!????). Seriously!!!? It is so sad that this whole place might just go away. Well, anyway, I just loved the place! Who wants to give me like 8 million EURO to buy it??? I will give you one bottle of wine in exchange. Anyone? Anyone? ...getting carried away... We tasted three different reds (my favorite was Jori [pronounced "yori"], the most expensive argh, which was named after his father) although one white is produced at the vineyard. He also makes olive oil and pasta, and everything is organic.
We all sadly said goodbye and discussed on the car ride to our last destination who was going to take over the business. I think all of us, in our heads, were trying to figure out a way to come up with the money to take over the vineyard. Our next stop was to have a few moments to relax in a small town called Greve-in-Chianti. It was a cute place with loads of little shops and everything was about wine. Everyone on the tour, except Luke and me, went off to find gelato. Luke and I wandered, like always, and found a sign pointing to a look out point, so we decided to walk up the narrow road up the little hill to get a view. It was amazing how grape farms were literally in the backyard of some of the homes. After taking in the view, we walked around in the square looking at the little shops before we all headed back to Florence.
I am so glad that we reserved a day to do the wine tour. Luke said he was his favorite thing from our whole 11 days in Italy, and I really enjoyed it as well. I highly recommend doing a wine tour for a day if you ever get the chance to visit Florence. It is so relaxing, there isn't much walking, everything is done for you, and you get to taste expensive wines that you may not ever get the chance to do. What a terrific day!
RANDOM
FACT:
Chianti Classico is made from at least 80% Sangiovese grapes while Chianti is made from at least 70% Sangiovese. Chianti Classico is the area where Chianti started before it expanded to other areas of Tuscany. Sangiovese grapes have only successfully been grown in the Tuscany region of the world. Sangiovese is pronounced "SAHN-jo-vay-zay".
Note: If you want to make a comment below, you might notice that I have changed my commenting format. To comment on this post, 1.) write your comment, 2.) sign-in by clicking one of the circles (choose between Disqus, Facebook, Twitter, and Google - I always use Google), and 3.) click the grey "Post as ..." in the bottom right corner of the comment box. Disqus is great because when I comment back to you, you will get my reply without having to come back to this post. I love it! If you are having trouble, send me an email at buissonfamilyblog at gmail dot com.
